88 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
88 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
# Packer
|
|
|
|
Packer is a tool for building identical machine images across multiple clouds.
|
|
|
|
Packer provides a framework and configuration format for creating identical
|
|
machine images to launch into any environment, such as VirtualBox, VMware,
|
|
Amazon EC2, etc. Because this build process is automated, you can develop in
|
|
VirtualBox, then deploy to EC2 with an identical image.
|
|
|
|
## Quick Start
|
|
|
|
First, get Packer by either downloading a pre-built Packer binary for
|
|
your operating system or [downloading and compiling Packer yourself](#developing-packer).
|
|
|
|
After Packer is installed, build your first machine image.
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
$ packer build quick-start.json
|
|
...
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Packer will build an AMI according to the "quick-start" template. The AMI
|
|
will be available in your AWS account. To delete the AMI, you must manually
|
|
delete it using the [AWS console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/). Packer
|
|
builds your images, it does not manage their lifecycle. Where they go, how
|
|
they're run, etc. is up to you.
|
|
|
|
## Templates
|
|
|
|
Templates are static configurations that describe what machine images
|
|
you want to create, how to create them, and what format you finally want
|
|
them to be in.
|
|
|
|
Packer reads a template and builds all the requested machine images
|
|
in parallel.
|
|
|
|
Templates are written in [TOML](https://github.com/mojombo/toml). TOML is
|
|
a fantastic configuration language that you can learn in minutes, and is
|
|
very human-readable as well.
|
|
|
|
First, a complete template is shown below. Then, the details and
|
|
structure of a template are discussed:
|
|
|
|
```toml
|
|
name = "my-custom-image"
|
|
|
|
[builder.amazon-ebs]
|
|
source = "ami-de0d9eb7"
|
|
|
|
[provision]
|
|
|
|
[provison.shell]
|
|
type = "shell"
|
|
path = "script.sh"
|
|
|
|
[output]
|
|
|
|
[output.vagrant]
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Templates are comprised of three parts:
|
|
|
|
* **builders** (1 or more) specify how the initial running system is
|
|
built.
|
|
|
|
* **provisioners** (0 or more) specify how to install and configure
|
|
software from within the base running system.
|
|
|
|
* **outputs** (0 or more) specify what to do with the completed system.
|
|
For example, these can output [Vagrant](http://www.vagrantup.com)-compatible
|
|
boxes, gzipped files, etc.
|
|
|
|
## Developing Packer
|
|
|
|
If you wish to work on Packer itself, you'll first need [Go](http://golang.org)
|
|
installed (version 1.1+ is _required_). Next, clone this repository then just type `make`.
|
|
In a few moments, you'll have a working `packer` executable:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
$ make
|
|
...
|
|
$ bin/packer
|
|
...
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
You can run tests by typing `make test`. This will run tests for Packer core
|
|
along with all the core builders and commands and such that come with Packer.
|